Easy Ways to Evolve Pichu in Pokémon Sun and Moon

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Co-authored by Rain Kengly Reviewed by Ishrak

Last Updated: March 5, 2025 Fact Checked

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Capturing a Pichu

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Building Pichu's Happiness

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Evolving Pichu into Pikachu

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Evolving Pikachu into Raichu

Do you want to evolve Pichu to Pikachu in Pokémon Sun and Moon? Unlike other Pokémon, Pichu doesn't evolve at a specific level. To evolve Pichu, you must have max Happiness levels. Once Pichu has a full Happiness meter, it will automatically evolve into Pikachu. You can then use a Thunder Stone to evolve Pikachu into Raichu. This wikiHow will show you how to evolve Pichu and Pikachu in Pokémon Sun and Moon.

Things You Should Know

Pichu needs max happiness to evolve into Pikachu. Pikachu needs a Thunder Stone to evolve into Raichu.
You can capture a Pichu in Route 1. Use a Luxury Ball to increase its Happiness.
To gain max Happiness, you can win battles and offer it items such as berries.^{[1]
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Section 1 of 4:

Capturing a Pichu

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Route 1 is a stretch of road between Hao’oli Outskirts and Iki Town.^{[2]
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Walk around the patches of grass. Wild Pokémon are hidden in grass. You'll need to walk around the grass to encounter Pichu.
- There is a 5% encounter rate, so it may take a while to find a Pichu.
- You can also hunt for Shiny Pokémon.
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Avoid harming the Pichu enough for it to faint, or you may have to search for a new one. It's recommended to knock its HP down to at least 25% so you can capture Pichu more easily.
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Capture Pichu. You can use a Luxury Ball to increase its happiness as you capture it and for future Happiness-gaining activities.
- You can purchase a Luxury Ball at the Pokémon Center on Melemele Island.
- Pichu will only evolve into Pikachu with max Happiness.

Section 2 of 4:

Building Pichu's Happiness

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1
Feed your Pichu. You can feed your Pichu from restaurants like Rare Kitchen, Friendship Cafe, Friendship Parlor, or Battle Table.
- You can find these in Festival Plaza.^{[3]
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This will be on Akala Island.^{[4]
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Give your Pichu a Soothe Bell to hold in battles. This has similar effects to the Luxury Ball. The Soothe Bell increases the number of happiness results from any Happiness-increasing activity, like battling.^{[5]
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- You can find a Soothe Bell in the Royal Avenue Shop on Route 3.
Pichu should reach maximum happiness after about 20 berries while holding the Soothe Bell.
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Win battles with Pichu. As long as your Pichu doesn’t faint, the win will increase its happiness.^{[6]
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- Try to seek out what is weak against your Pichu for battles. Pichu is an electric-type Pokémon and is strongest against water, and flying types, like Squirtle and Pidgeot. Fighting water-type Pokémon means your Pichu has a higher success rate, meaning you will gain experience faster.^{[7]
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- Avoid fighting Pokémon that are strong against your Pichu. Pichu has a weakness against electric, grass, and dragon Pokémon, like Dragonite, Bulbasaur, and Voltorb.
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Check your happiness level. To check your Pichu’s Happiness meter, you’ll have to go to the NPC next to the TM shop in Konikoni City on Akala Island.
- If she says, "My! It feels incredibly close to you! Nothing makes it happier than being with you," then your Pichu will evolve the next time it levels.
- If she says, "You clearly love your Pokémon, and you must spend a lot of time together," your Pichu is close to reaching maximum Happiness, but not quite ready to evolve.

Section 3 of 4:

Evolving Pichu into Pikachu

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Once Pichu reaches full Happiness, it will automatically evolve into Pikachu.^{[8]
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- Make sure your Pichu's Happiness level is maxed or it will not evolve.
- Affection is different from Happiness. Pichu will not evolve with max Affection alone.

Section 4 of 4:

Evolving Pikachu into Raichu

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You can find a Thunder Stone in Route 8, inside the RV park. You'll need to walk through a pile of orange construction cones to reach the far left side of the map.
Select the Thunder Stone from your inventory and use it on Pikachu.^{[9]
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Watch Pikachu revolve into an Alolan Raichu. An Alolan Raichu is different from a regular Raichu as it is a dual-type Electric/Psychic Pokémon. This is region-specific.
- You can use your new Alolan Raichu to defeat the Elite Four.